The Internet has become a popular and effective marketing medium. As global Internet use has soared, Internet advertising has become one of the most efficient ways to market products, services, and companies. The Internet allows companies to reach users almost instantaneously on a nearly global scale. Additionally, consumers have become accustomed to the nearly instant gratification of seeing, researching, and buying products and services on the Internet.
Concurrently, the number of cellular telephone users worldwide has skyrocketed. Some estimates put the number of cellular subscribers in the United States at over 275 million. An increasing number of mobile devices include data services, in addition to traditional voice service. It is now possible for many mobile subscribers to access Internet content from a mobile device.
While the mobile Internet continues to become a key component of global sales and marketing, mobile devices continue to evolve. Some of today's mobile devices have more computing power than was once possible in desktop computers. Many of today's mobile devices run mobile versions of popular operating systems such as Windows®, for example WindowsMobile®, and MacOS X, in the form of iphone OS. Some of today's mobile phones include scaled down versions of popular web browsing software such as, for example, Internet Explorer® and Safari®. As such, the mobile Internet is growing more and more popular.
E-commerce has seen corresponding growth on the Internet. It is now possible to handle financial transactions on wireless devices. For example, many users now pay bills, check banking account balances, transfer funds, and purchase goods and services on the Internet with a mobile device. While display size, keyboard limitations, and security have been concerns in the past, many of these concerns are now being addressed. As such, it seems that the growth of Internet use on mobile devices will continue to grow.